STAM ON CHELSEA PERFORMANCE

Dutch wing back wants focus on performing and not decisions that are out of Latics’ control.

As a team we need to start getting some significant points so that the fans can start enjoying our performances again."

Ronnie Stam

At 2-1 in yesterday afternoon’s game at Stamford Bridge Ronnie Stam’s shot from the edge of the area brought about penalty claims as the ball seemed to strike Ashley Cole on the arm.

Although Stam thought it was a penalty himself, he believes the team need to forget about incidents like these and focus on themselves.

“I thought it was a handball when I took the shot.

“This season we’ve conceded a lot of penalties but we never seem to get any of our own.

“I don’t know if it’s bad luck but it has affected us, on the other hand we need to forget about incidents that we can’t control and carry on playing the way we do because if we win games, then those decisions don’t matter.

“We need to just keep doing the things we’re good at and I know of course sometimes we do need a bit of luck but we’d rather not rely on that.”

With Chelsea attacking in numbers yesterday Latics found themselves in an end-to-end battle with attacking aspirations of their own, something which Stam said was a real test.

“I had to do a lot of running because Chelsea have a lot of quality going forwards which meant I had to defend a lot as well as attacking myself.

“I think I did well in my one-on-ones and tried to get forward as much as I could and it was the same on the left hand side for Jean and we created some chances from these positions.”

He added:

“I’ve played a lot of football this season and I’m enjoying being in the team but as a team if we can win then we can enjoy the games much more.

“As a team we need to start getting some significant points so that the fans can start enjoying our performances again.

“The most important thing is for us to win our Premier League games because we need to make sure that we stay up.”

With the FA Cup fifth round on the horizon, Stam welcomed what could be an important confidence boost for the team should they progress to the quarter finals.

“We have to focus on both competitions but staying in the Premier League is our main aim and we have it within us to make sure we can achieve that.

“The FA Cup could provide us with a confidence boost and it would be nice to get through to the next round because everyone wants to go as far as possible.

“If we can perform to the best of our ability then who knows just how far we could go.”